Doris gasped. "To call that John!" she said; "what a wicked libel! Couldn't the editor be arrested?"
"An editor is one of the people whom nothing can arrest," said the Admiral. "'In rebus desperatis remedia desperata,' which means 'What the public wants, the public must have, however short the time in which to fake it up.'"
There was a knock at the door, and a young officer entered, saluting.
"Destroyers sighted, Sir," he said, not without an appreciative glance at the two pretty girls close by. He handed a piece of paper to the Admiral, adding: "Just come in by wireless from the Arethusa, Sir."
The old gentleman with the pointed beard and clanking sword read it. He chuckled.
"Well," he said, "the public is going to have some fun for its money, for Commander Carey is coming into harbour on board his own boat. Now, then, suppose we all go out to the signalling station at the end of the Mole and get the first sight of them?"
Half a dozen clouds of black smoke upon the horizon, growing larger and larger every minute; a great murmur of the crowd; officers in dress uniform with binoculars at their eyes; a group of journalists in hard felt hats, making notes!...
Now the destroyers can be seen in a half-circle, with three great ships in the background.
"The Transports!" the Admiral said—"from seven to eight thousand Germans in them—what a haul! Look, Mrs. Murphy, that is the Cruiser Arethusa by the side of them. I expect they had a handful in disarming all those chaps, and they must be pretty short-handed on board the whole flotilla, for they'll have had to send a lot of men aboard those two liners. Fine boats, the new light cruisers, Captain Murphy?"